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the video game industry with a tuesday deadline to make the recommendations to the president about what to do about gun violence. it was the first white house meeting for the nra in nearly two decades yesterday and this morning its president told matt lauer he was not pleased about how it went. >> we have a profound disagreement with this administration. first of all on what would make a difference. we don't think a ban on so-called assault weapons which hasn't worked in the past will work this time. >> one of the major pieces the vice president appears to be focused on is not the assault weapons ban but background checks. >> there's a surprising -- so far, a surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks. not just close the gun show loophole but total universal background checks, including private sales. >> and the "washington post"

reports today the white house is at least considering an nra proposal to fund police in schools, that's something now being pushed by democratic senator barbara boxer. i want to bring in "washington post" columnist ruth marcus and ryan grim. good to see you both. >> good morning. >> the nra said and i'm quoting here, we were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the second amendment. ruth, nobody thought the nra would come out of this meeting and say we've totally changed our minds, but how much of the white house strategy has to be about the nra? >> well, yesterday's meeting wasn't as much a meeting as it was a big of kabuki theater, the white house needed to make it appear they have gone throw the motions of listening to the nra and nra to go through the motions of considering. the nra is a potent political

force, it has money and members. and particularly in house districts, members need to worry about their nra rating and whether they are going to pardon the pun, be in the crosshairs in the next election. the white house needs to worry -- it's not going to get the nra on its side but it needs to figure out a way to neutralize its power. >> part of figuring that out is figuring where they are going to stake their claim. nra president also continued his hard line against an assault weapons ban. let me play for you what connecticut's governor dan malloy said on hard ball. >> the idea we can't do that just isn't true. in 1930s because machine guns fallen in the hands of criminals, we decided nobody should have a machine gun. guess what, people don't kill any more with machine guns. we're not talking about incidents with hand grenades.

we can make practical decisions and pass practical laws. >> it does appear the white house is no longer making passing a new assault weapons ban the definition of success. so is that an indication that they are not looking for comprehensive package this is going to be piecemeal? what do you make of it? >> the white house's strategy over the last four-plus years has been to decide ahead of time what they think they can get accomplished and then push for it. they did that through health care and did that with dodd frank. it's something that frustrated the critics the entire time. they want to have the argument -- they want to say, look, if republicans and the nra and moderate democrats end up knocking down the assault weapons ban, okay, they end up knocking it down. at least have a knockdown drag-out fight over it instead of doing a rough count of votes and say, well, we probably can't

get the assault weapons ban, let's do a piecemeal approach. so, we'll see where that goes. it seems to be more of a trial balloon at this point but it does -- >> you start to put other trial balloons out there to see what you can give to the other side. senator barbara boxer told the "washington post," if a school district wants to have a community policing presence, i think it's very important they have it. is this the thing we might see as part of a bigger deal? >> sure, i think the critical word there is if. i think many, many schools do not want armed policemen outside their kindergarten classrooms. but to go back to ryan's point, the issue of what's achievable is -- and what -- whether it's achievable or not is really important to focus on in this debate. while i would love to see the assault weapons ban reinstated, let's be serious, even when it

took effect was more symbolic than anything else. existing assault weapons were grandfathered in and they still would be and anything that was done here. there are things that look like assault weapons that might technically be exempt. if i were the white house -- and i think they are smart to do this -- i would focus on things that could make a practical difference as opposed to a symbolic one. i'm a huge fan of both of limits on magazine size, which really would have had an impact on these terrible shootings we've seen and also on stepped up background checks which might not be perfect but better than what we have now. >> we're also seeing states and localities take control of what they want to do about this. there are a dozen states that have proposals about putting armed guards in schools. this is in butler county, pennsylvania, they cut 75 teaching and administrative positions in the last five years because of money problems. but after newtown, they put in a

plan to hire 22 former state troopers for $230,000. they also paid for a new insurance policy. i wonder, ryan, these fights in washington over money, will they play into this at all? >> i think the fight over money is one reason that some democrats are actually going to be okay with more funding for police officers at schools, if the school wants it. because those are state workers and that's stimulus and more jobs for people. and if the school does want them, you're going to have plenty of democrats like barbara boxer who are okay with it. if it comes down to whether or not you have a teacher in a classroom or a cop at the door, that's just a sad commentary on the state of where we've gotten. to go back to the assault weapons ban, sure, if you don't design the law in an effective way it's not going to be effective. but you certainly could as the governor pointed out, people

don't use grenades anymore and machine guns anymore and that's because of laws that we have in place. it's a question of what kind of society do we want. if we say it's not a priority of ours to ban assault weapons, then we'll have a society that has millions of assault weapons. that's a question we have to ask. >> let's me bring in gregory meeks. thanks nfor coming in. to ryan's point about what kind of country do we want to be, we saw in staten island residents voted to put armed guards in schools and the new york city school board said it's not happening, plain and simple. do armed guards keep children safe or more at risk? >> i don't think we want an atmosphere where kids have to be armed guards around them. we as americans can come together as the governor had indicated and make sure that assault weapons are not there. assault weapons are banned and

we need to have a real ban and not with all of the loopholes, not taking away people's gun rights, all i hear the nra saying it's an assault on second amendment rights. i don't want to take away people's opportunity to hunt and do what they need to do there and for sportsmanship. but do we need to have these weapons that all of these bullets where you can kill people and manufactured to mass murder -- mass kill individuals and et cetera? i don't think anybody needs to have that. i think that's what we're talking about. that's the kind of common sense conversation we need to have as americans so we can make sure we don't have the kind of disasters that took place in connecticut not too long ago. >> let me ask you about strategy and how people who want more gun control get some members of congress on board who haven't been so far. i want to point out numbers, mayor bloomberg's group says 400,000 people had joined its gun control movement since newtown.

the nra says it has gotten 100,000 new members. people do seem to be more active on this issue, but do you see any minds changing particularly in congress? >> i do. i think people are starting to talk. that's why you see even nra members who say i'm a gun holder and a ban on assault weapons and ban on magazines is something that's common sense that we have to think about. i think it is not reasonable to think it is easier to get a gun, talking about background checks, it's easier to get a gun then get a driver's license. that does not make sense in our modern day society. >> you don't think you'll have to take assault weapons off the table to get reform? >> i think what the administration is doing, we have to make sure we know and we have a complete background check with no loopholes. we've got to take the magazines that people have access to off the table. let's do that. that is something we can accomplish. i want to make sure we do

something first that makes sense and make us all safer. taking away those magazines. me coming from new york, i don't think that individuals need hand guns. however, i understand that folks from other parts of the country -- and we are one big country, they have a different view point. i want to accept their point of view but also want them to accept mine and i think it's rational for them to say to have the multiple magazines and have it where there's no complete background check does not make sense for anybody. >> let me ask you about something else. the headline in politico today, gop amendments could derail sandy aid again. here are some amendments they are adding, across the board cuts in spending and killing transit subsidies for federal employees and prohibiting t.a.r.p. obligations. are you concerned? >> i'm very concerned. i was concerned when we passed the $9.7 billion and i saw 60

republicans voting no for just for flood insurance. i am very concerned. and i said on the floor that day -- >> is this going to turn into a big fight? could this not happen? >> until it happens -- others have been saying until it happens it has not opened. i know when it's open for amendments on the floor and what gets on there, i'm concerned. >> we have never as a country had fights about helping people when there's been -- what's changed? >> you know what, that's what's devastating to me. that's why i made an open invitation to the speaker to walk with me in my district so you can look into the eyes of americans, not democrats or republicans, but americans who have had their lives turned upsidedown by superstorm sandy and say how are you going to deny these americans the opportunity to get back on their feet? we've never done this before. we've always come to the aid of americans in natural disasters. and here it is for the first time that we've had a situation

where now have gone over 75 days and the eastern region, new york city, connecticut and new jersey, they have not received the kind of aid we've always given. it's shocking to me that when you look at some of the members who voted no, they come from the gulf states and other states that have been the recipients of emergency funds due to natural disasters. but yet, here we come into the northeastern part of the country devastated, the worst storm we've seen in at least 100 years or probably ever, and we have the house of representatives which is supposed to be the people's house. we had pride ourselves that the house of representatives is the people's house and we're going to turn our banks on our american citizens? that's so un-american. i'm nervous until we get the votes. the speaker said we'll have the vote on january 15th and i assume that means he's going to deliver the votes on january 15th. i know that it should not be a partisan battle. if you ask me if am i concerned?

i am concerned until we get it done. that being said, i am -- some of my republican colleagues like michael grim and peter king who have stood up and fought on behalf. >> and the constituents are directly affected. >> congressman meeks, great to have you here. good luck when you get back to washington. we only have about a minute left. let me ask you, ryan, this afternoon is the deadline for submitting amendments to that bill, are we going to see another big battle? >> we're going to see a huge battle. this is the way -- that the house floor is going to play out for next two years. it's going to be a very delicate balancing act with the country on one side, boehner in the middle and tea party on the other side and him trying to figure a way through. you're going to probably have ups and downs that you had with the last fight where it's going to look like it's going to go down. then the question is, does the

tea party and boehner such come to the pressure and put something through? how much outrage will it take? >> which begs the question, ruth, is the question not is this going to be a battle, but what isn't going to be a battle? >> well, i think that's a really good question. almost everything is going to be a battle. but about this aid in particular, of course we always respond -- the federal government also responds to citizens in the case of natural disasters and this is a huge one. and of course the federal government should respond. but at the same time, i think it's fair to say is all of the $60 billion that's requested and in the bill necessary as emergency spending? does all of it need to be done right away? are there things tucked in there that are reasonable to question that you might want to require to be offset with cuts elsewhere? i think especially in these times it's both important to help the victims of disaster and to make sure we're spending

limited money appropriately. so there's going to be a fight but maybe to some extent there should be some scrutiny also. >> ruth marcus, ryan grim, thank you. new numbers just came out moments ago from the cdc. they show the number of flu cases still elevated although they may be decreasing in some parts of the country. the report says 47 states are now reporting widespread flu activity. last week it was 41. we'll have much more on the flu still ahead this hour. how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve great rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice.

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president obama is meeting right now with afghan president hamid karzai. we just saw the president karzai getting into the white house. he walked in just moments ago where he'll be discussing the future of the u.s. role in afghanistan. u.s. commanders there have

proposed keeping anywhere from 6 to 15,000 u.s. troops in the country after 2014 to go after terrorists and train afghan forces. but just this week the white house said the president is open to pulling out all u.s. troops. joining me now is the former ambassador to iraq, christopher hill, also former assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific affairs. good to see you, good morning. >> good morning. >> give us a sense of what is likely happening in that room. what's the conversation like and what do you see potentially coming out of this meeting today between these two leaders? >> first of all, i think the president will warmly receive him. he'll certainly do a lot of listening. i've seen our president in many of these circumstances where he asks the visitor how things are going. he will touch upon some of the real problems that clearly afghanistan is having internally, and i think he'll allude to some of the governance questions, otherwise known as corruption questions going on in

afghanistan. then there will be a pivot to the issue toward security assistance and how can we be helpful to the afghans as they try to make their way. i think the president will make very clear that the united states isn't going to stay there forever and we're not going to solve afghanistan's problems for them. they've got to do it themselves. >> there's a new article and it asks this question, the obama administration says it is considering leaving no troops in afghanistan after december 2014. but is it really? or is it just decreasing expectations and using the threat as a pressure tactic ahead of president obama's meeting with afghan president hamid karzai? do you think that's what's going on? >> i think there's some gamesmanship in that regard but most people in the administration frankly most people, think it's wise to keep some troops there. the issue will come down to mission. do you want to just keep troops who will do a counter terrorism

mission, is that going to be okay with the afghans? or will they want that to be but tresed by some sort of training or budget support? at this point, the afghan military is going to cost more money than the country has to spend. so i think very high on karzai's agenda is continuation of security assistance in the form of budget support. >> and let's look at the possible scenario of leaving afghanistan completely after 2014. what would we be leaving behind? >> we would be leaving behind a very dicey proposition. a country whose governance is clearly about as weak as we've seen it. a country that has rather predatory neighbors and a country that i think is going to have real trouble making its way. on the other hand, i think the point needs to be made that it's for the afghans to solve afghanistan's future, not the united states. and we're prepared to help but

the question is how much can we help and for how long. >> we also said that about iraq and of course as the former u.s. ambassador to iraq, i want to bring up this point from a new national journal article. it says, the talks broke down and u.s. forces withdrew completely at the end of 2011. iraq has been beset by violence and mired in political state mate ever since even as the government in baghdad has drifted closer to iran. i don't know whether or not you agree with that assessment, but are there lessons from the iraq withdrawal that could help with the withdrawal in afghanistan? >> there are some lessons but i would really be careful about analogies between iraq and afghanistan. for example, the idea of surging forces in afghanistan, which was based on a template of what was done in iraq was frankly a rather dubious proposition. i think we need to look at the fact that iraq has a lot of

means of its own. it's a huge oil exporter. afghanistan is not a huge exporter. they have drugs and they have thugs and i guess some rugs as well. but it's a country that really has some problems making its way economically. that's one difference. then the second issue is that in iraq, from the summer of '09, fully a year and a half before u.s. troops withdrew, we were out of the villages, towns and cities. we had turned many of these missions over to the iraqi army that has capabilities. and i think when you look at the afghan military, you don't see those capabilities. i saw a piece the other day that showed that all -- of all of these battalions created in the afghan army, only one of 24 is capable of operations without u.s. forces. it's a very different circumstance. iraq is 80% urban.

afghanistan is 80% rural. iraq is 80% literal, afghanistan is 80% illiterate. >> christopher hill, it's good to talk to you. thank you for coming in. we'll be right back. who is this? that's pete. my... [ dennis' voice ] allstate agent. a "starving artist" has an allstate agent? he got me... [ dennis' voice ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance and you still get an agent. [ normal voice ] i call it... [ dennis' voice ] the protector. is that what you call it? the protector! okay. ♪ the allstate value plan. are you in good hands?

to politics now, nbc news confirmed jay rockefeller will not seek another term in 2014. the west virginia democrat and former governor is right now the chair of the senate commerce committee. he's been in office since 1977. iran is going to make its own version of the movie "argo," the iranian vision will quote unquote correct what they believe is distorted historical context. everyone is talking about jack lew's loopy signature.

>> i never noticed jack's signature and when this was highlighted yesterday in the press, i considered rescinding my offer to appoint him. jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter ledgible in order not to debase our currency should he be confirmed as secretary of the treasury. >> and if you read only one thing this morning, if you never thought you would communicate with a friar, the largest group wants to prove you wrong. you've got to see how they are accepting prayer requests these days. it's up on our facebook page at faceboo faceboo facebook/jansingco. ♪

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word is here's replacement is likely to be a man. the latest administration moves led to criticism about a lack of diversity in the new cabinet. it's worth replaying what charlie rangel had to say about it on our show yesterday. >> it's embarrassing as hell. we have been through all of this with mitt romney and very hard on mitt romney with his women and a variety of things. i think there's no excuse when it's a second term. if it's the first term, you can see people got to know who is around that's qualified in order to get this job. >> let's bring in democratic strategist and former kerry deputy campaign manager steve elman dorve and rich gayland. i want to start with this job per se. the chief of staff is described as the second most powerful position in washington. would you agree with that assessment? >> yes, the title doesn't

describe the span of control that the chief of staff has. such as chief of staff of the white house but chief of staff of the executive branch and his or her span is enormously broad. let me say something about what congressman rangel said. >> let me get to that. we'll ask you about the fact that the president has gone through four chiefs of staff in four years. there are other people in high stress jobs, tim geithner at treasury, hillary clinton at state who stayed on the whole time. is this a reflection on this president or just how grueling and critical this job has become? >> i think it's a reflection of how grueling and critical the job has become and how tough it is on people. i talked to someone leaving the white house yesterday. i said what are you going to do? i'm going to get a job where i don't have to get up at 5:00 a.m. every day. it never stops, 24/7 and not surprising that people after two years or a year decide they want to do something else. it's very hard on people, particularly people with young kids and families. >> the top contenders for chief

of staff are two more white men, den is mcdonough and ronald klain. let me get your reaction to this. >> barack obama is black. >> some of the president's top advisers are women, valerie jarrett, half of the white house staff is women. that's been a diverse cabinet and white house staff. what we're experiencing now is a communications problem more than an actual diversity problem. >> rich, is this an optics problem? >> let me agree with bill. that this is -- this is a very difficult job to fill because you have to be so much in tune with the president. if you want to start add up blacks and womens and christians, that's fine, but the chief of staff role is not the place to do that because you

have to be in tune with the president all the time. what burton was saying -- bob, i called you bill. what bill was saying was exactly right, that you have to just have somebody that you can trust, you can go to bed -- president go to bed at 11:00 knowing the chief of staff will still be there at 2:30 the next morning. >> here's the other side of the argument. if you buy what rich is saying, you have to disagree with what we've heard from charlie rangel and the fact that passed over at least from what we're hearing for chief of staff were two deputies, nancy-ann deparle and alyssa mass trow mondayco. ? a problem for the administration? >> well all due respect i think it is a phony issue. when they are done picking the white house staff and cabinet, this will be the most diverse group of people that will reflect the country just as they did in the first term.

just as the democratic caucus in the congress does. when it's done, you'll see lots of women and min orts. it will reflect america and i just think it's a totally cheap shot at the obama world to criticize them for this. >> steve. >> what happens is, it happens with every president and every administration, republican or democrat, the other guys. sometimes your own people as mr. rangel did, counting too closely whether the numbers match up. in the end, you have to go for the best person for that job at the time the job is open. and generally speaking, because the talent on the united states is so large, it does tend to even itself out over time. >> it's so interesting that in addition to charlie rangel, that two women we had on yesterday took a different position than the two men we're having on today. we'll see how this goes moving forward. there's still positions that have to be filled. thanks, guys, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> also making news, new details about the secret service

scandal. remember this one involving prostitutes in cart jena? it was two drug enforcement agents that procured a prostitute for a secret service agent days before president obama's visit to colombia. they also found the agents try to detroy incriminating evidence. the case has been turned over to the dea. james holmes is expected to face arraignment today but his lawyers are asking for a delay. a judge decided yesterday that holmes can be tried on all 166 criminal counts against him. holmes attorney say it is not ready to enter a plea. russia says the agreement that allows americans to adopt russian children will stay in effect until 2014. president vad mir putin signed a bill banning the adoptions. it was supposed to take effect this year. yesterday the kremlin said no more adoptions will be allowed

but adoptions already cleared before the ban can go through. the first official portrait of kate dutchess of cambridge was revealed. the portrait was painted by paul elmsly. in the past hour, the government announced it is ordering a thorough reveal of the dream liner 787. >> we're considered about the safety of this aircraft. but we're concerned about these incidents and we'll conduct the review until we're completely satisfied. >> we will look for the root causes of recent events and do everything we can to ensure these events don't happen again. >> cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. there have been several instances with the dreamliner including one overnight, a 3-foot crack appeared in the

window of a 787. do we know what investigators will be focusing on here? >> it's a joint review of safety issues with the 787 and focused on all kinds of things like the electrical system, quality controls that are used in the manufacturing process and it's also going to cover the 787's critical systems and that includes design and assembly. the bottom line here is to try to find out exactly where along the process these problems are occurring, fix them and try to make sure they do not happen again in the future. >> meantime, mixed news on jobs, ford is hearing but american express is firing. >> why don't we start with good news, ford is planning to hire 2,200 engineers, computer programmers and various other white collar workers this year because u.s. demand for vehicles is picking up. that is in addition to the 8,100 salary an hourly jobs they added

last year. honda plans to create 50 new jobs in ohio, building the hybrid accords there. nissan announced it will hire 400 people by the end of new year to make the murano crossover in mississippi. there's the bad news as well. that is american express is going to slash roughly 5,400 jobs and it's seems to be a fairly logical reason. it's going to be transforming operations because more of us are shifting online for booking our travel. i should say this though, i believe the job cuts will be partly offset with jobs that the company expects to adds this year in other areas of operations. >> that's good mandy drury, have a good weekend. you think you live in a pretty cool city? here are the fast company's top five smartest cities, those considered to be pushing the envelope in technology and innovation. number five is new york. number four, vancouver, followed by seattle.

the number two coolest, san francisco and the smartest city, boston. i didn't always watch out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still going to give me a heart attack. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

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great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. does the winter put you in a negative mood? you're not alone. seasonal affective disorder which affects one in five americans usually occurs in the winter months, including sleepiness and social withdrawal and poor concentration. professional help may be needed for extreme cases but doctors say for most, the symptoms will sub side in a few short months. we have new numbers from the centers for disease control on the deadly flu outbreak. the number of deaths are climbing, 27 in minnesota, 22 in

pennsylvania, 18 in massachusetts. right now 47 states are reporting widespread levels of the illness. at the same time, there's been a run on flu vaccine with shortages popping up. the cdc, 128 million doses have been distributed, only 135 million were made. joining me now is dr. alexis pal per rin. good to see you. >> nice to see you. >> how are things at your e.r.? >> crowded. it's a mess, we've gotten to the point where we're handing out masks when people come in with any kind of could have or fever or body ache. >> you said the hallways are lined and we've seen that in other hospitals across country. >> we don't have room in the waiting room. >> are people coming in who shouldn't be in the e.r.? >> if you're starting to get flu symptoms, don't come to the e.r., go to your primary doctor. if it's early in the course and you do test positive, they can give you tam iflu.

if you're having flu symptoms, the e.r. is not best place for you. there are a lot sick patients and people that can catch the flu from you and can give you whatever they have. it's not the best place for people starting to get sick. >> the vast majority of people who get this vaccine will not get the flu but there are a minority, i hope it's okay for me to say this, who get immunized and get sick anyway. you were one of them. >> yes, i was. >> without getting into too many details. people don't want to get this flu. it's not fun. you were on your back for what, a week? >> nine days about, yeah, it was awful. >> tell people what they should do besides get this vaccine in are there ways to avoid it? >> i definitely got it at work. but the things we learn when we're a kid, wash your hands wherever you go. don't be around people who are terribly sick. cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze as far as giving it

to other people. be careful about your environment. bring purell with you restaurants. if you start to get the symptoms, stay home. >> that's a big part of it, isn't it? >> we were doing this report how it's $10 billion will be lost in people who call in sick because they have the flu, but what if people are coming into work who don't feel very well and suddenly just how easy is it to give it to somebody else? >> that's one of biggest problems, it's so contagious right now and the strains that are out there are so contagious and severe, that if you have symptoms and you go to work, there's a very good likelihood you'll give it to other people. and it doesn't feel good when you give it to friends and family. if you are sick, don't go to work and don't go to school. stay home, drink a lot of soup and tea and catch up on dvr. >> because of the severity of the situation, i was shocked to hear this, the archdiocese of

boston and they feel they have a health emergency is telling priests they can suspend distribution of communion and alter sign of peace. and the shocking fact, the average desk is 400 times dirtier than the toilet seat. which is to your point, beware of your environment. bottom line here, what do people need to know about the flu? i have heard people saying, i don't know, maybe i'm coming down with the flu. are there very clear signs where you know you should be going to your doctor and then very clear signs when you should be going to the e.r.? >> it's hard to say because people get the common cold in the winter as well. things that are specific to the flu this year, body aches, severe body pain, really bad fatig fatigue, a kougt, often becomes a deep cough, headache and fever. those are things we assign

specifically to that spectrum of the flu. runny nose can go along with. it can be vomiting but when i look at this person, i say, this is the flu going on here. >> if you say i'm fine i'm going to ride it out, is there a point you know you really should go to the e.r.? >> if you develop severe shortness of breath or chest pain or notice your lips are turning blue and vomiting a lot and fever above 104, any kind of seizures or anything like that, certainly. but mostly it's really which you can't breathe and you're starting to get severe chest symptoms, then we worry it is becoming a pneumonia and your res per tri status is going to get too severe and you're going to get really sick. >> i'm glad you're feeling better. >> thank you very much. >> and today's tweet of the today suggests the outbreak may have a silver lining. a flu epidemic has spread across

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maybe you know the fact she's been at the center of stories like benghazi and syria and other diplomatic hot spots. still you may not know anything, seldom mentioned is her business legacy and what she did to help promote american companies abroad. richard liu is here with the drill down on hillary clinton's hidden legacy. >> you wouldn't know this, during 401 trips abroad here, chris, secretary of state clinton has helped to score dozens of deals for u.s. business. one stop in the czech republic was to help push a nuclear plant and gave umph to the bid for vad

mere putin and a nudge on a $3.7 billion fifty plane deal and took the time out to press japan to accept a $7.2 billion for lockheed martin to upgrade the jet fighters. efforts like this have helped u.s. xporlts to grow to $1.5 trillion in 2011. the 80% growth from 2004 expected to go past $2 trillion this year. secretary clinton justices her business transformation as central to u.s. strategic interests. many countries' big industries are government promoted. she told "business week" they give support to individual businesses that should not be given that government imprimatur. even penned a memo climbed a. ambassador as ceo, helping u.s.

businesses win deal. a recent trip with google and master card to myanmar was led by her but her under secretary. even leo dicaprio is involved with this. titanic and other movies made it because of state department efforts. now it's up to her successor, a global apparatus that may have done more more american business than any state department before. >> fascinating stuff, richard. that wraps this hour. i'm chris jansing, thomas roberts is up next. happy friday to you, i hope you have a great weekend and happy friday to all of you. thanks for joining us, the nra versus joe biden. can the white house paint the powerful gun lobbiest group as 2002 extreme. what responsibility does hollywood and video gaming industry bear for gun violence in america?

we're asking bo biden. when you thought one cabinet pick was safe, a new challenge from the left. we'll talk to sanders from vermont who has a plan to block lew's nomination. a group vows to end the member of the gop legislature who supports marriage equality in that state. that and much more in the next hour. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a latte will ya, please?

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